<b>Bayonne</b>

Bulkhead anglers at Bayonne, Hudson River Park and such places began banking keeper striped bass, said Capt. Akira from <b>True World Tackle</b> and <b>True World Tackle Charters</b>. They dunked sandworms and bloodworms for bait, and a 35-inch striper was the biggest heard about. Most customers fished from the bulkheads or piers, and not many fished from boats yet this season. So nothing was heard about fishing for winter flounder or bottom fishing. The store is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. But the hours might start at 7 a.m. daily beginning this week.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

On the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> striped bass fishing on Saturday, the vessel’s first day of fishing this season, was the best start in all of Capt. Ron’s years on the waters, he said in an e-mail. One of the anglers, “Dr. Sal,” was high hook with seven bass and the 18-1/2-pound pool winner. Tommy Krako ended up with six quality stripers, after catching none the first 2 hours. So those two anglers landed their limit of two keepers plus a bonus-tag fish, and three more filled their bonus tags, and a couple of more limited out. Five of the first stripers boated were keepers. Outgoing tide flowing with the winds created good fishing conditions most of the trip, and catches lasted until dropping out when the tide changed, falling apart for the last half-hour. Loads of bait filled the waters, and gannets dived, and fish splashed like 50-caliber shots. “This is why I love what I do,” Ron said. “After the horrible winter we’ve had, I feel like a kid again! Hope to see you soon.” Catches started slowly, just a couple of stripers landed, on Sunday’s trip. Ron motored away to a couple of other spots, and the fishing turned into an all-out blitz for 2 ½ hours! All the anglers limited out and then some, playing catch and release by 1 p.m., and five and six bass were sometimes hooked at once. Eric the Mortgage Man took the lead in the season-long pool with a 24-1/2-pounder. Dr. Sal originally held the lead with an 18-1/2-pounder. Tom Krako later decked a 22-pounder and a 21-pounder. One angler, June, reeled in seven of the fish. Loads of fish and bait filled the waters. “(It) doesn’t get any better than this!” Ron said. The Fishermen is striped bass fishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. <b>***Update, Tuesday, 4/13***</b>: Monday’s trip was a three-peat! one of the anglers said, according to Capt. Ron in an e-mail. The boat limited out on stripers, this time by 11:30 a.m., and the trip, when finished, left them biting. Action was nearly non-stop. “Best spring fishing I’ve seen a long time,” Ron said. The fish weighed up to 19 pounds, hitting both bait and jigs. Bunker, last year never schooling farther north than Asbury Park, this year had already arrived locally, “and it’s early April. Go figure,” he said. A huge body of stripers held from Romer Shoal to the Shrewsbury Rocks. Big bass swirled on top, gannets dove “(and I) can’t sleep at night waiting to get back out the next day,” he said. “Don’t wait two weeks and tell me how you’ve been reading the reports. Now is the time!” 

A few winter flounder were rounded up from the Shrewsbury River on Thursday morning’s trip on the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>, Capt. Tom said. South winds came up later, creating miserable fishing conditions on the afternoon trip. No trip sailed Friday morning, and the afternoon trip picked some of the fish, not great, though everyone aboard, a handful of anglers, caught some, all on the river. Winds blew on Saturday morning’s trip on the river, and one angler landed three keepers, keeping no more than a limit of two, one boated two, a couple got one and some none. The afternoon trip stayed docked. On Sunday morning’s trip the boat was poked out to the bay for the first time this season, fishing near the Navy Pier, and two flounder came up, but so did six or seven skates. Another stop produced no flounder, so the vessel was sailed back to the river, and a couple of the flatties were swung aboard. On the afternoon trip the handful of anglers on board picked at the fish, and everyone reeled in some, but not everyone bagged a keeper. Some of the flounder on the trips were healthy-sized, such as two 17-inchers coolered on Friday afternoon. Most of the shorts were only one-half or three-quarters of an inch undersized. Tom would call the fishing on the trips hit or miss, not good enough by any means. Handfuls of anglers sailed on the trips that got out, and the boat is running with only a handful, though too few anglers showed up for the trips that stayed in port. This period of the fishing was slower, but the previous several days, covered in the last report, sounded better. The Atlantic Star is fishing for winter flounder twice daily from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

<b>Highlands</b>

The boat was splashed for the season Saturday, said Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>, and he’ll probably offer the year’s first open-boat trips and charters this weekend, after he fishes a couple of times this week. Striped bass fishing reportedly broke open the last couple of days from the bay to the ocean or practically everywhere. Clams probably hooked them, and a few probably scored with bunker. Winter flounder fishing seemed okay from the rivers to the bay. Not a lot of fish came up, but some were caught. Bottom fishing sounded slow, and one angler said he picked a couple of ling and tiny blackfish. At first trips with Fisher Price will run for stripers, winter flounder or bottom fish or blackfish and ling. In May trips will mainly hunt stripers, probably fishing with clams at first, before switching to bunker. Contact Derek to be kept informed of the open-boat schedule.

<b>Neptune</b>

The Coast Guard inspections should be completed on the boats this week, and Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> hopes to start fishing next week, he said. Striped bass were clammed on the ocean up north Sunday, and a friend scored well on the fish. Schoolie cod were drilled at the wrecks, and blackfishing hadn’t really kicked in yet, but the tog were taken farther south. Last Lady will run for all of these fish if they’re biting. Charters will sail, and Ralph will announce an individual-reservation trip schedule soon.

<b>Belmar</b>

The season’s first charter is slated for the last day of the month on the <b>Nan Sea J</b>, and trips will begin with striped bass fishing, Capt. Tom said. The anglers will fish with clams, bunker, on the troll or with jigs, whatever it takes, on the ocean. Reports didn’t sound like stripers were boated locally yet. Tom and crew were currently working on improvements to the boat, all cosmetic work.

<b>Brielle</b>

A 13-pound blackfish was pancaked on Peter Papi from South Plainfield’s charter on the <b>Big Kid</b> on Sunday, Capt. Ken said. The blackfishing was slow in south winds, but seven of the tog, nine cod and a dozen and a half ling were iced in the 49-degree waters. The blacks chomped green crabs, and the rest of the fish inhaled fresh clams. No signs of striped bass were seen that day, but the crew of the Big Kid is looking out for them, ready to pounce on the fish as soon as the run begins, and the fishing’s got to break open any time. A charter this weekend is supposed to target the linesiders. Capt. Wally Harmstead from the boat took a fun trip for winter flounder with his family on Thursday, and they limited out on the fish on the Manasquan River.

Blackfish started to bite better every day, said Capt. Jerry from <b>Fish Monger Charters</b> in an e-mail. A bottom-fishing trip Sunday with six anglers totaled 35 keepers including an 11-pound 11-ounce whopper, two over 8 pounds, two over 7 and a keeper cod. They all limited out, releasing the rest, and also tossed back shorts. The fishing took work, but the result was good, and the waters definitely held more life and bites than before. Good life, the best so far this season on the boat, was found at the first drop. The action was heavy on short blackfish, but included 6- to 8-pounders. The fishing started to fizzle, turning into a funny, scratchy, light bite. Then one of the angler’s rods bent over, and the 11-pounder was pumped in. The same angler also beat an 8-pounder. Catches faded to nothing, and the boat was moved. More bites from lots of shorts but a few big blacks developed, and the anglers picked away until limiting out. Jerry hoped the improved catches were the start of a good crack at the fishing before the blackfish season ends May 1. Fish Monger is bottom fishing on the ocean and winter flounder fishing on Barnegat Bay and the Manasquan River on both charters and open-boat trips. Give a buzz to get out, and check <a href="http://www.fishmongercharters.com" target="_blank">Fish Monger’s Web site</a> for details on trips.

Barnegat Bay’s toggled in winter flounder, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>.  So the fish were yet to migrate to the Manasquan River, on their way to the ocean. Blackfish and striped bass were racked up from the Point Pleasant Canal. The blackfish preferred clams, yet to hone in on crabs because of cool waters, and the stripers swiped rubber shads on jigheads. “Were stripers landed on boats on the ocean or in the surf?” Dave was asked. One customer picked up three stripers in the surf at Point Pleasant on clams, he said. Blackfishing improved offshore, and the tog there also preferred clams over crabs, and cod were clocked on the same trips. The Reel Seat is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets will be available through Thursday for the <a href="http://www.ssfff.net/fundraiser.html" target="_blank">Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund’s Third Annual Fund Raising Dinner</a> on Friday at Crystal Point Yacht Club in Point Pleasant. Enjoy the dinner and support the SSFFF.

Trips to the wrecks 50 to 90 miles offshore recently dusted up cod, pollock to 30 pounds and a few ling and hake, an e-mail from Sunday from the party boat <b>Jamaica</b> said. One of the trips will run 11:30 p.m. Friday to 6 or 7 p.m. Saturday. A special trip that will sail for tilefish and wreckfish at the canyons will depart at 11 p.m. Thursday, May 13. Striped bass fishing improved on the local ocean, so the vessel’s first striper trip of the season will steam 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Telephone the boat or visit its Web site for the full schedule.

<b>Point Pleasant</b>

Wreck-fishing on the party boat <b>Gambler</b> on Saturday in a big ground swell, rough seas and somewhat dirty waters began offshore, looking for cod, Capt. Bob said. A few cod were swung aboard, but the angling was slower than usual, so the boat was moved inshore, and a few blackfish were clubbed. The catches on the trip weren’t as good in the seas as they were previously. Bob heard from his brother Mike, who ran today’s trip, while the trip was on the waters, and blackfish catches were improved, sounded better again, and included heftier ones to 10 pounds. Sizeable blackfish were sometimes hauled up on trips already this season. The Gambler is fishing for blackfish 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Wednesdays, and cod, half of them shorts, the other half 21- to 26-inch keepers, were mixed in on the blackfish wrecks lately. Trips farther offshore at the 20- to 50-mile wrecks are sailing for cod, pollock, ling and hake 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.  

<b>Seaside</b>

A few striped bass, 8- to 12-pounders, were weighed in from the surf every day for a week, said the report on <b>Grumpy’s Tackle</b>’s Web site. Shorts were also nabbed, and a decent, early-season run of stripers had developed, if anglers were willing to look for the fish. Fresh clams were best bait and are stocked, and so is fresh bunker. The surf was in the low to mid 50s on Saturday. Lots of sunbathers, not a ton of anglers, covered the beaches in the good weather on Sunday. <a href="http://www.grumpystackle.com/fishing_reports.cfm" target="_blank">Click here</a> for updates.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

Barnegat Bay’s early-season striped bass fishing was the best Capt. Steve from <b>Reel Fantasea Charters</b> could remember, he said in an e-mail. Solid fishing for them was hammered throughout the bay on a variety of techniques, and the fish responded well to top-water poppers and various baits. Sean Castle jumped aboard Friday evening in windy weather. Stripers were found blitzing baitfish on a shallow flat within minutes of the dock, an awesome spectacle, like fire crackers going off in the waters. Steve stopped the boat up wind, drifting it toward the fish. He got impatient, motored a little closer, and the fish broke the surface within feet of the boat. Sean missed the first striper but quickly hooked another. A few stripers, including one keeper, were landed there, and then the boat was moved to another spot to escape the winds. The next stop produced another solid bite. The fish were smaller but great fun, until the trip ended. Dean Browne from Toronto’s group of three also found stripers on the flats at the first stop. The action was tamer, but one of the anglers managed a quality bass at that location. They moved to another area, and everyone was in, fighting schoolies on light tackle. Then they sailed to Barnegat Inlet, going 2 for 4 on stripers, including two keepers. Trips available include 3-Hour Bay Specials through April, running 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Big, slammer blues should show up any time.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

“Spurty” catches, bursts of action, were copped from shore at Graveling Point, the report on <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said on Friday. Not a lot of news was heard afterward, and the clear weather typically keeps anglers from returning to the shop to give results of trips. But an 11.6-pounder and a couple of other bass were checked in Saturday. No report was posted on the site Sunday. A few stripers were reported yanked in today, and specifics were scarce, but a flurry of catches seemed to happen at the top of the tide. Striper fishing can be better at night in bluebird weather like recently, because too much sun can spook the fish. The season’s first news about drum was heard. Some were reported knuckled in Saturday, and an angler who e-mailed the shop reported catching a 25- to 30-pound drum at nearby Pebble Beach on Wednesday. Lots of shorts were hooked at Pebble that day, the shop’s report said. Nobody mentioned locating herring at the creeks around Batsto. Bluefish could arrive any day, through the season was early. Mackerel years ago used to migrate 7 to 10 miles off Atlantic City starting this past weekend, and blues shortly followed them. The mack run failed to develop in recent years, maybe because the fish passed farther offshore.

<b>Brigantine</b>

At <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b> Ted Fowles today weighed in a 16-pound striped bass from the surf, taking the lead in the Fish for Life Tournament, the report on the shop’s Web site said. See details about the tourney below. On Saturday Jeff Haines checked in a 13-1/2-pounder he banked at the bridge. Joe Russella on Friday totaled six stripers, including one keeper, an 11-pounder, from the shore, mostly at the cove. Someone telephoned the shop that day, reporting a catch of two stripers 33 and 29 inches at the cove. Also on Friday, Joe Curinga said he landed a 34-inch striper and lost one in two knock downs at once in the surf. Sign up for the Fish for Life Tournament at the shop for $20. The event, running until May 15, features prizes for the first through third heaviest stripers entered, and many anglers enter for the pass that’s included with the entry fee that allows them to drive the entire length of Brigantine’s beach when accompanied by a beach permit from the town.

<b>Atlantic City</b>

Surf casters dragged in striped bass, lots of shorts, but a few keepers, and good-sized tog, said Noel from <b>One Stop Bait & Tackle</b>. Clams, bloodworms and sometimes bunker or plugs drew the stripers to strike. Green crabs or clams coaxed the tog to chew. Blues this season have occasionally popped up in the wash, but Noel saw none in the last week. A few herring were occasionally jigged from the suds, and Noel saw spearing in the waters the other day. He started hearing lots of reports about out-of-season summer flounder caught by mistake and released on the bay, and that seemed a good sign for the season opener May 29. Fresh clams, fresh bunker, bloodworms, green crabs, minnows and frozen baits are stocked.

<b>Margate</b>

The boat is ready to fish for the season, said Capt. Eric from <b>O-Beth Sportfishing Charters</b>. Charters will  concentrate on tog fishing until the blackfish season closes May 1. The boat will be moved to Cape May around mid May for annual trips for drum and striped bass. Sea bass trips will kick off when the season for the lumpheads opens May 22. Sharking, a specialty on the vessel, will get under way as soon as the monsters arrive, usually in June.

<b>Somers Point</b>

Striped bass were claimed from the bay around the Beesley’s Point Bridge and the power plant, up the Great Egg Harbor River and at the Longport jetty, said T.C. from <b>Brennan Marine</b> in a fax. Most were small, and nearly all were hooked on clams. Customers who boated Delaware Bay limited out on stripers with little trouble up the bay a ways, from the Maurice River Cove to Fortescue, in the 8- to 10-foot shallows on clams. Tog were plucked from around the local bridges, and green crabs worked best. A few were taken along the sod banks toward Margate. None of the blackfish was particularly large, but the catches should mean bigger slipperies will follow, and gave hope for a successful early season on the fish. White perch were boxed in fairly large numbers up the rivers and creeks. One-pounders to 1-1/3-pounders were not uncommon, and bloodworms and FishBites worms scored great. The relatively warm weather seemed to stir up good fishing for all three species.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

The back-bay’s striped bass fishing was starting to pick up, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>. His charters mostly fish for them with soft-plastic lures or Clouser flies. Bait such as clams are sometimes used when necessary, but the plastics and flies usually work best. Joe also runs charters for stripers on Delaware Bay, and the fishing there was “sporadically great,” he said. All the action happened at once. Bait such as clams are typically fished there. Charters to Delaware Bay can depart on the boat either from Cape May or Sea Isle. Joe heard on the radio the first mention this year about a drum boated on Delaware Bay this weekend. Bluefish should storm the back bay by the end of the month. A large population of blues usually migrates to the waters from then until Memorial Day or sometimes longer. Afterward many of the blues move offshore for the summer, though blues are found in the bay throughout the season. But the largest body of blues will invade the bay within the next weeks. Flounder season opens on May 29 or the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Fishing for them on the back bay is best in the early season, while the shallow waters are relatively cool, and charters for opening weekend should be booked now. Holiday boat traffic fails to affect the bottom dwellers.

<b>Cape May</b>

A charter on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> on Sunday boated striped bass to 38 inches on Delaware Bay, Capt. George said. The fishing was slow that day, but the anglers -- Chris Schultz’s group with Bill, Tim, Tim’s step dad and Marian – bagged the fish, on clams. Some anglers on other boats nabbed none that day, and George’s friend ran a trip that grabbed five that day. The friend ran another trip on the bay Saturday, saying the anglers knocked the heck out of the fish. Trips that George ran the previous weekend also creamed a bunch. The bay Sunday was probably 54 or 55 degrees, and the linesiders bit softly, pecked at the clams, and anglers had to pay attention. Most of the fleet was located toward Miah Maul, but George kept away from the crowd. Someone on the radio reported catching a 65-pound drum. George started charters early this season, and the Heavy Hitter usually begins trips this coming weekend. By that weekend, drum are often hooked while the anglers striper fish. Drum often turn on early in the season, go through a lull a moment while they spawn, then turn back on again.

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